In the small village of Edgecombe St. Mary in the English countryside lives Major Ernest Pettigrew (retired), the unlikely hero of Helen Simonson's superb debut. Mourning the loss of his brother Bertie as the novel opens, the Major is hoping to retrieve the companion piece to a matched set of antique firearms their father had split between them, while his son Roger plans instead to sell the heirloom guns to a collector. The Major finds an unexpected ally in the antique shop proprietress, the widowed Mrs. Jasmina Ali, and then something more. Would the very foundations of England tremble if this stalwart of Empire found happiness with a Pakistani immigrant?

"Funny, barbed, delightfully winsome storytelling.... As with the polished work of Alexander McCall Smith, there is never a dull moment.... It's all about intelligence, heart, dignity and backbone. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand has them all."—NYTimes